Alexis Bellino , the newest cast member of The Real Housewives of Orange County , is continuing a grand Real Housewives tradition—she’s using the show to try and shore up her husband’s various business “interests.” In a recent blog post on the Bravo website, Alexis posted that she and her husband Jim (“Taliban Jim,” as Television Without Pity has dubbed him) own a boutique hotel called “In Vogue” in Laguna Beach, “so if you are interested in visiting us here in Southern California, you must come stay with us!” It’s never really been clear exactly what Jim Bellino does. ( Update : As a couple commenters have pointed out, Jim has a background in pawn shops and house flipping. He seems to have also taken to CL to push his pawn business : “I LOAN MONEY!!!!!!YOU MUST HAVE COLLATERAL…NO CREDIT SCORES NO JOB I DONT CARE I CARE ABOUT THE ASSET.”) But several of the Housewives have used the show to try and get publicity for their or their husbands’ businesses. Alex McCord, on Real Housewives of New York , is married to Simon, who is the manager of a boutique hotel in Midtown that gets plugged on the show. Jill Zarin makes sure a RHONY episode doesn’t go by without a Zarin Fabrics plug. Ramona Singer is constantly promoting her husband’s weird religious jewelry company. Lisa Wu, on Real Housewives of Atlanta , is in the real estate business with her husband. Caroline Manzo and her sister Dina promote their husbands’ family banquet hall, the Brownstone, on RHONJ. And Tamra Barney’s soon-to-be-ex-husband Simon attempted to launch a premium tequila company after being on the show. (Of course, the biggest shiller of all on Real Housewives is Bethenny Frankel, who used the show to launch a bestselling series of books on how to be anorexic.) Now, apparently, Jim is trying to get into the hotel business, and using Alexis to help. He’s opened “In Vogue,” which is now advertising on such exclusive sites as Craigslist : “BRAND NEW! A BOTIQUE [sic] HOTEL.” I couldn’t find any trace of it on TripAdvisor , but in the ad Jim writes: “CALL JIM FOR WEEKLY AND MONTHLY SPECIALS, CALL ME AT 949-322-4900. I AM DEALING!” Indeed. [Photo via Bravo ]
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